Forgotten Heroes: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Considering that women make up
more than 50 percent of the population,
the number of female guitarists on
the scene has always been something of a
distressing and disappointing mystery—
even today, when society is less regimented
about gender roles than ever and women
are inching closer and closer to socioeconomic
parity with men. But from the
1940s to the ’70s, one notable exception
was Sister Rosetta Tharpe. And she wasn’t
just a woman who played guitar—she
helped invent the whole concept of rock
lead guitar.

The Early Years
Rosetta Nubin (March 20, 1915–October
9, 1973) was born in Cotton Plant,
Arkansas, and began performing at age
4, billed as “the singing and guitar playing
miracle.” She began her gospel career
accompanying her mandolin-playing
mother, evangelist Katie Bell Nubin, who
played tent revivals throughout the South.
In the late 1920s, she was exposed to
blues and jazz when her family moved to
Chicago, and to the joy of some and the
jeers of others she would eventually mix
both genres with gospel music. You can
hear blues bends and jazz chromaticism
in the solos from her earliest acoustic solo
work on Decca Records, where she was
backed by “Lucky” Millinder’s jazz orchestra
in the ’30s. Photos from this era show
her holding various pre-electric instruments,
including National archtop and
steel guitars, as well as a Gibson L-5. This
period is also notable because it’s when
she took the surname of her first husband,
preacher Thomas Thorpe, though she
would later divorce him and change the
spelling to “Tharpe.”

Appearances in producer John
Hammond’s legendary “From Spirituals to
Swing” show at Carnegie Hall, as well as
gigs at the Cotton Club and Café Society,
and bills with Cab Calloway and Benny
Goodman helped grow her fame outside
the church, much to the consternation of
her more orthodox fans. Her versions of
songs such as “This Train” and “Rock Me”
became big hits, and even those early tunes
without electric guitar had traces of what
would become rock ’n’ roll rhythms.

During the recording ban enacted by the
American Federation of Musicians union
from 1942–44, Tharpe was one of only two
gospel artists to record “V-Discs”—records
intended to boost the morale of US troops
serving overseas. You can hear her tearing
up the acoustic on her 1944 recording of
“Strange Things Happening Every Day”
with boogie-woogie pianist Sammy Price.
This was the first gospel song to make
Billboard’s “race records” Top Ten, and some
consider it to be the first rock ’n’ roll record.

In 1946, Tharpe invited a young singer
named Marie Knight onstage at one of her
concerts. Knight had a strong contralto
voice that blended well with Tharpe’s
soprano range, and they soon had a hit
with “Up Above My Head.” The pair
toured the gospel circuit for a number of
years, during which time Tharpe’s popularity
among churchgoers peaked. The duo
split in 1950, but by then Sister Rosetta
was so well known that 25,000 people
paid to attend her 1951 wedding to her
manager Russell Morrison (her third marriage)
at Griffith Stadium in Washington,
D.C. The ceremony was followed by a
musical performance.

Michael Ross is a writer/musician/producer/bon vivant living in Nashville. He curates guitarmoderne.com, dedicated to avant-garde and experimental guitar, and contributes to Premier Guitar, Guitar Player, Electronic Musician, and Sound On Sound. He is the author of Getting Great Guitar Sounds and All About Effects.

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